PLANNING a wedding takes one year, you might want your wedding in six months because of the projects that you want to accomplish or other commitments that can make it difficult for you to spend one year planning.
The time frame is too short so this can be very hard but don’t panic as today’s article will help you pull a wedding together within this time frame.
To begin with, you have to prepare yourself mentally, tell your mind that it’s only six months of planning nothing less or more. Get into the right frame of mind and don’t panic as you have to be prepared to compromise.
Enter into planning of your wedding with an open mind and flexibility, be like a palm tree; very flexible when the wind is blowing but cannot be broken no matter how hard the wind blows.
You may have it all planned out in your mind but not keeping your ideas flexible will leave you frustrated and disappointed. Be ready to alter your ideas of what your dream wedding is, not only will you need to be flexible with your planning but you need to be willing to make compromise financially.
Don’t try to over plan or be too controlling, take everything with a sense of humor.
Decide on the budget and stick to it as this is very important to any wedding whatever the time frame. More importantly, when planning on a short time line.
With the short time frame in mind, the money you spend won’t be spread out over a year or two. You need to look at what funds you have to spend and be able to live and pay your bills.
As the bride and groom, you may need to scale down the vision of your wedding. It is very easy to rely on credit but you need to seriously consider entering into a marriage with enormous bills is a healthy start just to have an over the top wedding.
No one wants to start a marriage in bankruptcy court. The number one reason for young
marriages failing is financial stress.
Keep your eyes on the ball. It is so vital to buy a note book that you will call a wedding book and use it as your planner book or you can buy the ones that are sold.
This helps you organize your ideas and helps you store contact information all in one place. Write down the phone numbers for decorators, caterers, florist, bridal salon, hair dresser, wedding planner or consultant you might have talked to along with contact information and appointment dates and times.
You can also add swatches of fabric and photos of flowers to show to your florist.
Start planning as soon as you decide on a date, if you take care of everything in the beginning you will never be stressed out as you will have more time to enjoy your engagement and more time to focus on the small minor details which are easily forgotten; then once discovered in the end, can easy stress you.
The time line will differ and could change dramatically depending on which season, reason being that three months can in winter while the other three can be in summer.
Planning at the end of the year or early months may result in the discovery of items being expensive. Beverage might be a challenge and the fresh roses are on demand.
Most of these steps need to be completed in the first month to month and a half to get the florists, photographers, dresses picked and venue booked in good time because we are looking at the time frame.
Pick things to do in particular months and make sure it reaches the maximum point so that the other month can be used for fine tuning and perfecting.
To put up a memorable wedding within six months, make sure you consider a simple but elegant theme wedding and have a great party instead of a formal affair. Be creative and try to plan something fun; remember at the end of the day you are still married, so try not to be as stuffy with your wedding when you are short on time.
Think outside the box and you will save your sanity and have a more memorable wedding than your friends who planned twice as long and spent 10 times as much.
When you come up with a wedding date or an alternative date, call the ceremony location options to find out what is available and how the costs fits into your overall plan.
If you wait, you risk the date being unavailable and if you find a place you like that is available
and in your price range, you should book it and not wait.
If the venue is within your budget, accessible and enough parking spaces, you can inquire about having it on an alternative day.
Friday or Saturday has become more and more common especially in the cities and towns where there is incredible demand.
In the past, the day on which the wedding was held was determined by which day the bride, groom and family members attended church.
The majority have their weddings on Saturday because on Sunday’s they go for church and do not want to clash with church programmes.
Look for a reception which is good, affordable and available on a short time line and really make a fast turn- around wedding memorable.
Most churches require couples to attend pre-wedding counseling. If you want your pastor to bless your marriage and marry you, then get that phone and contact him/her early enough so that he can meet with you and your partner before the wedding to discuss the vows, how they usually conduct ceremonies and other details which are important.
Wedding gown shopping is fun but buying on line within six months can end up stressing you as it might take time to be shipped, the size might be wrong this is the last thing you want to worry about.
Instead of buying on-line go to the bridal salon near you that carry multiple dresses in stock as you don’t have time. Remember when trying on a gown make sure you have your accessories and proper undergarments with you for the fitting.
Choose bridesmaids and groomsmen wisely, make it a must they buy their attires which are already made rather than the tailored ones as there is no time for alterations. Many tailors have disappointed us in the past, present and likely in the future.
Be surrounded by a bridal party which is positive and helpful as you don’t have time for dram queens and kings.
Meet with a few different photographers, these never disappoint in most cases so long you inform them in good time and your date is more likely to be available.
Work with your partner to make a guest list.
Determine how many people you can entertain with the budget and space available and send them invitation cards. After knowing the total number of guests invited, contact the caterer and discuss food options, costs for your reception.
Every memorable wedding needs a cake, check, make an arrangement with the cake baker or wedding cake specialist to pick out and order your cake, let them know if your reception will be indoors or outdoors so that they can advise you of what ingredients will stand up under the weather.
I attended a wedding where the mounted cake was melting right in front of our eyes, the only solution was to de-mount it, get it out of our sight and take it to the back room, it become the center of attention.
After enquiring what might have happened, it was a bake now, eat me within two hours cake for breakfast and not a wedding cake to be displayed and mounted.
Select the DJ, give him the type of music to play, they are very affordable and flexible. Music is the food of love, it has to flow.
As the bride and groom you might want to hire a wedding planner or consultant to assist you with all the planning process even at short notice they are able to handle.
Keep in mind that you will need to make quick decisions and that you may not be able to get your first choice on every count because of the short notice.
Decide which elements are most important and spend more time on those aspects to guarantee getting what you want.
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